The five-tool employee

Before I get into this post, first of all - thank you. I'm flattered by the reaction to my last post about making a career transition and your well wishes.

Part of what I've been doing for the last week has been speaking with people about jobs. Some are looking to join me. Others are looking to join Forrester. A few just want to leave their current roles for a change of scenery. However, the majority of people I've spoken with are more invested in the "what if" possibilities of a job switch and not ready to actually put some money on the table to make things happen. There's nothing wrong with that - sometimes, what someone really needs is a vacation. Or a hobby, like gardening or video games. Or an open ear for venting.

But then there are the people who are ready to change. And the ones I want to work with are the five-tool players. In fact, I think every hiring manager wants these players, whether it's a role in a startup or a Fortune 50 organization. You see, in baseball a five-tool player is someone who can hit for average, hit for power, run the bases shrewdly and quickly, throw, and field.

In a corporation, the five-tool employee is one who:

1) gets things done with results to show for their effort - no excuses for failure
2) accomplishes things that are remarkable - above and beyond what's expected
3) exercises sound decision-making skills, acting quickly and decisively
4) communicates well and can convince others to act
5) deals well with ambiguity, makes order where others see confusion

Let's take this analogy further. Baseball's five-tool players are most often outfielders, sometimes infielders, and almost never catchers or pitchers. Likewise, corporate five-tool employees are most often in management, strategy, and marketing roles, can be found in IT and finance, but rarely appear in other areas.

If you're looking, or looking to hire - think about the tools you possess or want to have on staff. The five-tool employee is difficult to find and worth retaining once on board...and will have many chances to succeed, because they naturally create value for their companies and opportunities for themselves.

And if you're a five-tool player - drop me a line...!

Comments

[Pete]

Hi Joe - you know that neither of us should be rooting openly for Sexson now, given his pinstripes! I worked with a guy who played football in college. He hated when anyone would say he had "potential," which he learned from his football days was code for "no." As in, "is he good?" "He's got potential. [i.e. NO]"

Hi Anu - good to hear from you! And a great addendum. I wonder, is there any way to tease this out in an interview process? I think a simple question like "can you tell me about a time when you were an active listener and accepted another's POV?" has the potential to really trip many people up!

[Anu Gandhi]

Peter, great blog. Sent it to all my colleagues.

But I added one thing to the criteria because I work at a non-profit where inability to work in teams is a death sentence. It is simply what drives my organization.

addendum:
6)Collaboration and willingness to listen and accept other POV

Thanks!

[Joe Chernov]

A long time ago, I had a boss that told me I was like Richie Sexson: he'd hit 50 if he could just get on the field more often. Richie got traded, saw the field more often, and struck out about 200 times a season. I sure hope he would compare me to another player today! (Damn do I root for Richie still, though he was just put on waivers.)

[Pete]

Lew - I'm guessing you're a five-tool guy, from what I've been reading from you over the past couple of years.

Joe - I think you and I discussed this topic a while back, but in a different context. Interesting point about maturity - we can apply the same model in different ways to college recruits and to executive hires, I suppose.

Building a team requires different strengths; you're not going to be much good if you have the most athletic dudes in the universe on your squad, but they're all shortstops: "Man, that team is pretty good, but they take some CRAZY routes to the ball!"

[Joe Chernov]

Love the analogy. But one also has to keep in mind that the term 5-tool is often used in association with raw talent, guys that have considerable physical abilities but typically lack refined skills. "We can teach baseball, but not athleticism" is a popular axiom. In fact, for many guys the "5-tool" tag can weigh heavily around their well muscled necks.

Of course, this wrinkle only serves to make the discussion about tools and talent, skills and start-ups all the more interesting!

[Lewis Green]

Great post Peter. The only time I ever was laid off was as VP of Marketing with a company that saved its product but only by closing its doors and moving the product over to its sister company. That was four years ago and only after six months with the company. That night, my wife and I celebrated. Why? Because we believe every door that closes opens many more if we are willing to look.

[Pete]

Hi danslan - agreed, education will only take a person so far. Experience helps get over the hump of indecision. Good managers help their staff grow by putting their educated, but inexperienced staff in position to make the calls.

Regarding hiring methods - agreed as well. I'm a frequent traveler and don't want to get flagged by the tee-ess-eh?, but there's a term that some detractors use called "security theater." I think a similar principle applies to many recruiting cycles - let's call it "recruiting theater." Make a big fuss out of getting executive calendars to align, ask some behavioral and tactical questions, incorporate interviewers from multiple disciplines, check references and connections, and so on. When in reality, Gladwell's "blink" gets us 95% of the way there in the first few seconds of the first meeting with the real decision-maker.

[danslan]

It's interesting, this is the third or fourth blog in the last coupla weeks to bring up #5. Ambiguity vs. concrete. I think this is pretty essential and in my opinion it's the difference between experience and education. Someone with a good business education can often put the mad skills to theory on paper, but actually seeing the plan through in the workday, where things get hazy and some threads are left hanging, is harder.

Maybe this is a tangent but does it seem like most hiring methods only bring candidates with two or three of these points? Seems like web-based job boards bring in the young blood, #1 and 2, and the money-saving recruitment 2.0 sites like dayak.com bring the seasoned folks, #3 and 4 (I'm oversimplifying a little). #5 is harder. If my recruiting gang finds a 5 they are to wake me up in the middle of the night.

[Pete]

Hi ski - great idea; I've already started thinking about what will go into the post.

[Jeff SKI Kinsey]

on not being Peter Kim...

Allow me to add a thought (not job related) to your move. First, I do not recall how we met (so far, only online, never in person; but I am hopeful!), but I consider you a colleague and someone worthy of interaction. "Iron sharpens iron." -King Solomon.

I study success. Successful people and organizations (which is just another vantage point on people). I wished you well, probably very much like others did, and probably only via twitter, which is the more popular form of communications these days for relationships such as ours... because that is what friends do.

If I had a secret (hidden) intent, it would be to gain an understanding of how your mind works. And in particular, why you would jump ship in these economic times. I am one of the few that see great reward in these times that are upon us (and sense you do as well!); most people are talking of hunkering down to weather this season of dramatic change... and Peter Kim is boldly going where few others venture.

So, give us a blog post from that vantage point when you have a moment. In fact, consider guest blogging that prospective on my blog.

Best wishes always,

-ski

[Pete]

Thanks for the feedback, Bert. I already know from your success that you fit the model!

[Bert DuMars]

I absolutely agree with the 5-Tool employee model. I believe execution is key. In fact, if I am personally not executing on delivering projects, products, services and value to the business, I actually get depressed. I would bet that if you ask a 5-tool employee how they feel when things get slow, you would get a similar reaction - depression and the need to drive some change and create some new projects and programs to tackle.

Great post. Thanks for the insight.